Thanks for the answers about the Gimli Glider. It happened in 1983,
probably before there was much of a usenet to discuss it on; if there
was a usenet discussion, it may have been when the book came out.
David Lednicer <dave@amiwest.com> wrote:
> You got most of the details right, but here are some more. On
>The airfield at Gimli was closed and there was a sports car
>race going on there at the time. Luckily, several participants noticed
>the 767 on finals and they cleared the track in time.
Wouldn't they have been in contact with controllers on the ground, and told
them they were going to attempt to land there? Does Canada have en-route
centers similar to those in the US? I suppose the book explains about this,
but the UC library system doesn't have it, although it does have the
Board of Inquiry reports.
(Actually, now that I think of it, I've probably heard about this before:
once I was on a flight when an engine failed (with a horrible loud
grinding noise like the garbage disposal from hell, which scared everybody,
but we felt better when we realized that the plane was under control; I
never noticed any unusual motions at all) and ground control ordered
us to land because there was only one engine (what are the regulations in
this situation?). One passenger was reassuring everyone else by telling
the story of an airliner that glided 150 miles with no engines at all.
He was probably talking about Gimli.)
thanks,
Katie Schwarz
katie@physics.berkeley.edu